Worksheet: Techniques in Clinical Hypnosis for Pain Management This worksheet provides a practical overview of techniques in clinical hypnosis for pain management, empowering you to integrate them into your practice with confidence.

Unconscious Exploration to Enhance Insight or Resolve Conflict

• ●  Ideomotor Signaling: Using subtle movements (like finger twitches) to communicate with the unconscious mind.

• ●  The Inner Adviser Technique: Guiding clients to connect with their inner wisdom for insights and solutions.

• ●  Guided Imagery: Inviting clients to visualize calming or symbolic scenes to process emotions.

• ●  Hypnoprojective Techniques: Using projection methods to uncover unconscious patterns or

  conflicts.

  Creating Anesthesia or Analgesia

• ●  Direct or Indirect Suggestion: Directly suggesting numbness or subtly guiding the mind toward comfort.

• ●  Imagery and Imagery Modification: Creating mental pictures that transform the perception of pain.

• ●  Ideomotor Turn-off of Pain: Using unconscious signals to reduce or stop pain.

• ●  Gradual Diminution of Pain: Suggesting a slow, steady decrease in pain intensity.

• ●  Interspersal Technique and Use of Metaphors: Embedding suggestions in metaphors to bypass

  resistance.

• ●  The Clenched Fist Technique: Using muscle tension and release to alleviate pain.

• ●  Increasing and Decreasing Pain: Helping clients control the intensity of pain for mastery.

  Cognitive-Perceptual Alteration of Pain

• ●  Body Dissociation: Helping clients detach from the pain by imagining it outside their body.

• ●  Symptom Substitution: Transforming pain into a less distressing sensation.

• ●  Displacement of Pain: Moving the sensation to a more tolerable area of the body.

• ●  Replacement or Substitution of Sensations: Swapping pain for feelings like warmth or tingling.

• ●  Reinterpretation of Sensations: Shifting the meaning of pain to reduce its emotional impact.

• ●  Unconscious Exploration of Function or Meaning of Pain: Addressing the psychological roots of pain.

• ●  Amnesia: Helping clients forget or reduce awareness of pain sensations.

• ●  Time Distortion: Suggesting that painful moments pass quickly.

• ●  Massive Time Dissociation: Creating long periods of perceived pain-free time.

• ●  Increasing Pain Tolerance: Building mental and emotional resilience.

  • ●  Posthypnotic Suggestions for Internal Dialogue: Helping clients develop supportive self-talk.

  • ●  Mental Rehearsal of Coping with Triggers and Pain: Practicing resilience in advance.

  • ●  Desensitization to Triggers: Gradually reducing sensitivity to pain triggers.
    The Inner Adviser Technique: Revisiting this technique to explore triggers and meanings of pain.

    Decreasing Awareness of Pain (Distraction Techniques)

• ●  Time Dissociation: Shifting focus away from pain by altering the sense of time.

• ●  Imagining Pleasant Scenes and Fantasies: Encouraging mental escapes to reduce awareness of

  discomfort.

• ●  Absorption in Thoughts: Focusing deeply on something unrelated to pain.

• ●  External Distraction: Using heightened awareness of the environment to divert attention.

● Eliciting Mystical Experiences: Engaging awe and wonder to transcend pain. Instructions for Coloring in the Pain Map

Grab Your Colors: Use different colored pencils, markers, or pens. Each color will represent a different type or intensity of pain.

Color the Areas of Pain: Look at the body outline and color in the areas where you feel discomfort, tension, or pain.

Red: For sharp, intense, or acute pain.
Orange or Yellow: For mild or dull pain.
Blue or Green: For soreness, stiffness, or achiness. Purple: For any numbness, tingling, or burning sensations.

Intensity Rating: If you want to track the intensity, you can use a darker or lighter shade of each color:

• ○  Darker shade = stronger pain.

• ○  Lighter shade = less intense pain.

  Add Notes (Optional): If you’d like, write small notes next to the areas on the map. For example, note the type of pain (e.g., “stabbing pain” in the left shoulder) or any emotional triggers (e.g., “stress from work” in the neck area).

  Track Over Time: You can revisit the pain map every few days to update it. Color in new areas as the pain changes, or adjust the colors to reflect any changes in intensity.

  Reflect on the Map: After filling it out, take a moment to look at the map and notice any patterns. Are certain areas more frequently marked? Does the pain appear in specific areas of the body? These insights may help guide your next steps.